News Facts

Modesto Irrigation District (MID), a multi-service utility serving more than 100,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in California, has deployed Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management to support its SMART meter program. Nearly complete, the project involves replacing every residential and commercial electric meter with advanced digital smart meters. With Oracle as the backbone, the system will provide MID with real-time data.

The Oracle solution facilitates meter messaging, reads and validations. It interfaces with various types of automated metering infrastructure (AMI) systems and meters used by MID, providing real-time usage data and the ability to disconnect or reconnect meters. The energy usage data collected through smart meters will be used for future time-of-use rate design, as well as for automated distribution outage detection and troubleshooting.

As a result of reading smart meters remotely, MID will drive more than 200,000 fewer miles each year, spending less money on gasoline and cutting carbon and other harmful air pollutants.

In October, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that MID was one of only six California utilities selected to receive a $1.5 million Federal stimulus grant to support MID’s efforts to install smart control equipment throughout its electric infrastructure. The project is expected to reduce system-wide energy use and deliver cost savings that can be passed to its customers.

Supporting Quotes

“Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides us with a centralized data management system to support our SMART meter initiative, which will help us in the future to share the data necessary to empower our customers to effectively monitor and manage their energy usage,” said Tom Kimball, assistant general manager for transmission and distribution, Modesto Irrigation District.

“Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides utilities, like Modesto Irrigation District, with modern infrastructure to support smart grid and green initiatives. The application helps utilities’ consumers to monitor their usage – and make smart energy choices,” said Stephan Scholl, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.